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The Oscars: Jon Stewart, Watch Your Back

In terms of recognition, nothing especially remarkable happened Saturday night at Film Independent's Spirit Awards: Juno won a bunch of awards; Angelina Jolie would rather have been anywhere else; Dustin Hoffman worked blue at the expense of Philip Seymour Hoffman—I know, you're sorry you missed it. But where the show went right was with its host, The Office co-star (and Juno bit player) Rainn Wilson. His fake auditions for nominated directors were almost too funny to withstand, none more so than his (ahem) nutty reading with Juno helmer Jason Reitman:

Wilson also had this instant-classic mock interview with I'm Not There director Todd Haynes. (His Bob Dylan audition also must be seen to be believed, though it's not yet YouTubed.) If and when the shadow council of fogeys responsible for programming the Oscars retires/falls asleep/dies and the next generation of Academy blood takes over, the cosmos will mete out its justice and Rainn Wilson will host the Oscarcast. Forget who you want to win; next year, it's all about whose deadpan will finally usher the show into the postmodern age. Jon Stewart, watch your back.

S.T. VanAirsdale is the founder and editor of the New York film culture site The Reeler.